Post-Hogwarts Hermione
by FionaQ
Summary: Romione is no longer, they broke up over an incident. So, four years after graduating, Hermione is thriving on being overworked in the Ministry for Magic. She is estranged from the rest of the Golden Trio, lost from old friends, until she goes to a reunion where she meets up and gets in an argument. And, let's just say her life is falling flat on her face. *Ron, Harry Bashing*
1. Chapter 1

**Just a reminder: I own nothing but the plot! The characters are all J.K Rowlings!**

Hermione felt the cold breeze as she stared at The Three Broomsticks, stationary in front of her. She knew she wanted to go in, but at the same time, there were people she didn't want to see.

As she spotted that person, laughing and dancing, she felt an ache grow in her stomach. She had to go, Hermione knew that, but that didn't mean Hermione wanted to. Obligation would not create happiness.

Hermione could feel the anger radiating through her body as she stared upon her former boyfriend. He had come to the ministry event with Lavender Brown — his fiance, and girlfriend for four years before that. Hermione hated the smug look on his face, their break up had destroyed her, yet left him standing.

If only the could understand why she broke up with him.

She stared at them as someone touched her shoulder, and it was quite clear why. It was the Battle of Hogwarts sixth anniversary, and they had all come together to celebrate.

After all she had done, Hermione was still climbing her way to the top of the Ministry for Magic. Currently, she was furiously overworking herself in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, trying to eradicate pro-pureblood laws. It was work she was felt passionate on, and had become closer to Kingsley Shacklebolt.

The same person tapped her again.

"What?" She sighed back in return. Turning around, however, she found the red hair of none other than Ginny Weasley.

"Hello to you too," Ginny replied, weaseling a hug after Hermione. After all, the two had hardly spoken after she had broken up with Ron, things better left unsaid.

None of them, not even Harry, spoke to her as often, because they had never heard or cared to hear her side of the argument. After all, she was just the brains of the 'Golden trio' as it was called, and the one people always found obnoxious.

"Sorry," Hermione responded, "it's just that I haven't seen you in ages! I haven't heard much, though I am intrigued about that Quidditch career of yours. How have you and Harry been?"

Hermione wished she could leash her own tongue, recognizing her overbearing attitude. She wanted to shake it off, apologize, but Ginny just smiled.

"It's been such a long time, even if we weren't that close."

"Yeah," Hermione said, the looming shadow of her and Ron's break up coming to their mouths. Ginny was, after all, very close to Ron. Nothing she could say or do would ever get her cracked back into that circle, never get her to be a part of the 'Golden Trio' ever again. It was just her, and no one else.

"I should be going," Ginny said, and with a nod of her head, walked inside.

Hermione continued standing for a moment, as still as a statue, hoping that for any reason she wouldn't have to go inside. Eventually, she knew she would have to, but that wouldn't mean she would start accepting it now.

After standing outside for a good twenty minutes, Hermione pushed no further and walked into the bustling bar. She was met with a cacophony of roaring laughter and talking, all overlapped into one screaming mess. Uncertain, she scanned the room for any possible escape.

Her eyes landed on a small table, with no people packed over there. _Perfect, this is my chance, _Hermione thought. Slowly, she made her way to the table, but not before Luna and several others had raced over to meet her.

"Hermione!" It was Luna's breathy voice, giving her a hug before sitting down across from her, alongside Cho, Padma, Parvati, and Hannah Abbott. Each of them had a joyful expression, they were celebrating after all, but also the twinkle of a mourner. Each one had known someone they lost, and they felt that on this day the way Hermione did.

"Hey, guys, long time no see!" Hermione attempted enthusiasm as she regarded them, watching as they all eyed her curiously.

"I know right! It's just been such a long time, and with all of us so busy…" Padma began.

"It's been hard to just talk and relax, so c'mon! Let's hear the scoop! Hermione Jean Granger, are you seeing anyone?"

Hermione sighed. She knew this was going to happen. This was what all of them cared about, maybe except for Luna, more than anything. Her, the famous Hermione Granger, always had to have a boyfriend. Otherwise, everyone would always be on her toes.

Just once, Hermione knew she would like a conversation where this didn't happen, a conversation with a generic response, like 'yeah, will you always were a working one' and 'you deserve so much better than Ron'. Hermione did not want their pity, and yet she found it when she searched people's eyes, people's voices.

"Yes." That split decision would be the death of her, Hermione knew, but she didn't care. Maybe, just for one night, she could have a night where she didn't have to worry about people thinking that she didn't need a boyfriend. She wanted one, but she didn't want their pity when she was single. Maybe not being single would be easier.

"So spill, then!" Hannah said loudly. "Who is this man that none of us have heard anything about?"

Who was this person? Hermione was not seeing anyone, she had only had a few dates after Ron. Could she even keep up this secret for just the entire night? "He's just a person, but we've been steady for a few months, and I don't know."

"Who is he? And is it going anywhere?" This was Cho's question, and Hermione watched her as she sipped her butterbeer.

"It's too soon to tell, but please don't say anything! I don't want this getting out anywhere, not yet at least. I don't think either of us are really ready for that yet. Anywho, how are you?" Hermione tried to turn the conversation away from her, getting Parvati to fill up the air with her voice. Eventually, Hermione watched the easy back and forth between the group, and slowly found her rhythm.

_You can do this, _she thought. _It's easier than you thought it was going to be. _As Hermione slowly gained momentum, she began talking, right as Ginny, Ron, Harry, and a bunch of other old Hogwarts students came over.

Her heart stopped flat. After all she had done to avoid them, they were still here. And Hermione had no idea what to say, or how to react.

"Oh! Umm…" It was all Harry could say, and Hermione could feel his green eyes staring daggers at her as she awkwardly sat in her seat. No one spoke around her, and Hermione could feel as the entire room silenced, every single pair of eyes watching the unwanted reunion. Hermione wanted to roll her eyes as Lavender came over, going under Ron's arm, her eyes scanning the group as if trying to figure out what was going on.

"Hermione, I didn't even realize you were invited." Lavender's voice hit Hermione, reminding her why she shouldn't be here, the way Lavender was talking to her as if Hermione didn't belong.

Hermione couldn't measure her anger, watching as Lavender sat smug under Ron's arm, as if she won something. Hermione just sat, waiting for some of the many people around her to speak. They were all still watching, waiting for the drama of course, and none of them cared about anything more than the scoop on the estranged trio.

"Why are you here?" It was Ron's voice that broke the silence, escape bathed in the anger that Hermione only knew from their break up.

"The same reason you are, Ronald." She stood up, her calculating eyes watching him, daring him to reply. Hermione would not feel threatened by this person in front of her, who she despised and hated. This person who she would not let define her life. She would not let Ron Weasley define where she could and could not go, because she was the only boss of herself. No one else.

"No, I think you are mistaken. Leave. You're disrupting this celebration." His voice was cold and icy as he watched her, walking up to her to highlight the physical advantage he had on her. Didn't he understand that he was not exactly the best wizard or witch out there?

"Well, if I'm disrupting this situation, then so are you." Hermione herself was even surprised by the audacity in her voice, the look she was giving Ron, daring him to argue. To fight.

"Leave." The steel word would not break her down.

"I have a right to be here, the same you or anyone else does. Just because you are some sexist, thoughtless pig, does not mean I cannot come to a party recognizing people who sacrificed for all of us." Hermione was getting riled up now, and when she got riled up, Hermione would not stop.  
The room was still watching them, and Hermione could hear the murmurs spreading like wildfire around them. Were they waiting to see her have a nervous breakdown? A fight maybe? For Ron to break down? Somebody jump in?

"Hey! You can't talk to him that way! He is my fiance!" Hermione was brimming with shock when she realized that Lavender had spoken for Ron. Hermione almost wanted to smirk, no matter how this situation ended, she was not the one who it was going to end poorly for. Ron would want to defend himself, especially to prove he could handle it. It was, after all, the major reason for their break up.

"I'm not leaving like this, you hear me? If the two of you want to pretend like you are some power couple, Lavender standing up for you, that's fine. If Lavender doesn't want a life, that's fine. But you, Ronald, will never tell me what to do."

Hermione didn't carry if it sounded like a threat, didn't care how she was being perceived, she never had. Ron and Harry standing their revived that. However, Hermione knew it was her that would get penalized in the paper the next day.

Hermione watched as Ron struggled, knowing that she would not back down. Hermione Granger was single and thriving.

** A/N:**

** Oof! Hermione and Ron broke up! And Harry's there too when they meet? This will be a continuing series if that's not clear, and in this next chapter I'm going to start placing the seed's for Hermione's love life, as well as their break up. Please read and review, I'd love any thoughts, opinions, maybe what you want the ship to be. **

** Sorry for any mistakes in grammar or spelling, if there were any, I don't have any beta readers or anything. **


	2. Chapter 2

"Hermione, stop causing a ruckus." It was Harry's voice this time, ever in the lead to take Ron's side. Even after they had shared time together in the woods, he would still always favor Harry, even though he didn't know what actually happened.

Hermione could only assume what Ron had told him about their break up, the lies he had blatantly threaded to make her look more like a villain than ever. She hated being framed that way, hated thinking the first person who ever truly became her friend thought she was nothing like she actually was.

"I'm not the one causing a ruck, Harry, Ron is. He was, after all, the one who instigated the entire conflict." Hermione didn't care that poison was laced in her voice, the threat ever present.

"You were the one who-"

"What?" Hermione interrupted. "I did not do anything, because the lies Ron chooses to spew are his lies. If you think I could really hurt him, than you are no longer the boy who saved Hogwarts, no longer the boy who lived that was my best friend."

She could feel the thrum around her, the people staring at her, and especially the accusation she had just said. Hermione was exploding with her bold side, unafraid of the consequences to her truths. No one could possibly do anything about an argument between a few friends.

Hermione watched as Harry shifted his gaze from her to Ron to Ginny. Slowly, he nodded, as he grabbed a hold of her, and apparated them far away from the scene in the bar. Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes, hardly believing that Harry actually cared what the public thought. Maybe her accusations were right, she realized solemnly. Maybe Harry really wasn't the person she used to know.

Hermione stared at the blank room she was now in, watching as Harry whispered a soft _muffliato_ and turned to face her. His shoulders were squared— offensive and ready for any verbal attack.

Harry face her as he spoke. "Hermione, you really can't talk like that in public. You know it will become next day's scoop."

Hermione raised her eyebrow. "So what? What if I am in the Daily Prophet, my life watched with a hawk's eye like it still will be? Harry, who cares if I am one day's news? All you could possibly concerned about is how it must look, your ex-friend making these statements about you."

"It was your choice to hurt Ron that way, Hermione. Not his. Do you know how he talked about you after you left him? And the way you betrayed him? That is not his fault! Not his!"

Harry's voice rang through her eyes as Hermione looked at him, resisting the urge to laugh. What could Ron have possibly told Harry to enrage him this much. She really wanted to know, a curiosity more than anything else.

"So tell me, Harry, how did me and Ron break up? Obviously I did something terrible, but in your own words, what did I do to possibly hurt Ron that much to make you this unforgiving and changed to someone who use to be your best friend." Hermione crossed her arms as she waited for Harry's response, racking her mind for anything Ron could possibly have told him that might have been taken from real experience.

"C'mon, Hermione. You were the one who was so distant, so unaware. You were the one who let work consume you, and slowly Ron faded from your life. And when Ron tried to talk to him about it, you just denied him an opportunity to even just talk to you!"

Harry's voice was consumed with anger, which was why his face contorted into disbelief as Hermione began laughing at Harry's accusatory statement.

"What? You think Ron's pain is suffering, he should have broken up with you before then, if you are really this ungrateful-"

"You really think that's what happened, Harry? Ron lied to you, and if you don't want to accept that, you can apparate before I tell you what really happened. The truth. One Ron obviously hid from you because it turned him out on the bottom. I cannot possibly fathom how you thought that _I_ was the villain. I was your friend Harry, and after one conversation with Ron, you ended things."

Hermione shivered, remembering the horrid night of her and Ron's break up. A whirlwind of screams filled her ears as she went back to their argument, one loud and shaky, one of a couple not destined to be.

It all started when Hermione got home from drinks with Ginny, late at night, after the unwind of a hard day. Ron had been sitting at their small kitchen table, tapping his foot, standing up as the door opened to reveal her. She could see the straight 180 degrees of his eyebrows, his fists clenched.

Hermione could hear him whisper _muffliato_ as she walked up to him. Hermione watched him put his wand away, staring at him as he stared at her.

"Where were you?" It was not a question, at least not the way he sounded. It was the thunder before the lightning, the rage before the blast. He was annoyed, and Hermione recognized this as a demand and not a simple inquire.

"Out with Ginny, why?" Hermione had calmly put her jacket on the chair, watching as Ron slowly gathered himself. She had no no clue what was about to come out of his mouth.

"Hermione, you've been working so late this week. And then going out with Ginny, it feels like I never see you! I mean, I need to see you. Your my girlfriend, after all." Hermione had smiled, Ron's consideration the only thing that have come out of the confrontation. _Your in the clear, _she had thought. You made it.

How wrong she was.

"Okay, so I'll try to be home as early as possible after work. I might have to work late next week to finally get S.P.E.W fully off just my ground, and I think a promotion might be due soon to law enforcement…" Hermione's voice trailed off as she saw the look Ron was giving her. "What is it Ron?"

"I just don't understand, 'Mione. Why are you working so hard, pushing yourself so that you never see me? Heck, your seeing Kingsley Shacklebolt more than you actually see me. We won the war! What is keeping you shackled to the stuffy office."

"So? Ron, I'm trying to follow my career." Hermione could remember her confusion in those moments, not understanding why Ron was so annoyed with her.

"But why? I mean, when we have children, you'll be home. It's not like you can work, right? Especially if we want like four or five, I mean my Mum couldn't keep her job. So, 'Mione, just don't push yourself too hard, okay? Because I don't even think you understand what will happen when we have children."

Hermione recalled how livid with anger she was, staring at Ron stating out what he seemed to think was an obvious future. "What do you mean? Ron, I'm keeping my career."

Ron had blinked, as if not registering what the underlying statement in that comment was. Hermione was upset, and she wanted to scream over and over what she really wanted to tell Ron. It infuriated her, the fact that Ron could just tell her that they were having a lot of children.

"You couldn't possibly keep your career, because then you wouldn't be able to take care of the children. 'Mione, you do know that you have to stay home. I mean, what else can you do? Work? 'Mione, be serious. No woman could possibly work and have children."

Hermione was insulted. She could not believe these words were coming via her serious boyfriend's mouth, that he was actually insinuating that this was their only option for the future.

"Ron! That is outrageous! I am not putting my career on hold for a child or two, I am not just yours to command! This is my choice, I chose to work. I can be a mother, if I want to, _and _have a successful career with the Ministry. If you really think I can't, then you are not the person I fell in love with."

"What do you want me to tell you?" Ron had been exploding with anger, and Hermione's emotions were a clouded mixture of anger and sorrow for the boyfriend she had known she was losing. "That we don't need to have children! That you can work, and I would stay home?"

"No, Ron, I'm just saying that I don't want to put my life on hold. My career is important and-"

"More important than children. 'Mione, my children need a proactive mother who will always be there for them. That means a break from the Ministry, you have to be able to comprehend that."

"No!" Hermione's voice was the strike of lightning, the finality. "No, this cannot happen" It was the declaration of the end, as Hermione remembered it. It was the true end of the relationship, not the tangle of anger and comments afterwards, all just a jumble of the same as before.

As Hermione relayed the story to Harry, she noticed as his expression morphed through the initial shock and into an anger towards his best friend, but she also noticed that there were still some hard feelings between her and him.

"What? Do you agree with Ron?" Hermione cut the silence of the realizations with a knife, swift and sharp.

"No," Harry said, shifting uncomfortably. "Though I do partially agree, and understand where he was coming from."

**A/N:**

**Dun dun dun! Harry too! Man, I really don't like these characters... Any who, thank you to anyone who faved/followed from my initial chapter. Please R&R, and again, I have yet to introduce a main ship (I have no idea). Sorry for any mistakes, and thanks so much for reading! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

"What?" It wasn't a question anymore, no, Hermione was long past simple questions. Now she was in a fearful whisper, a realization blooming in her mind that Harry was no longer the friend she had cried with. No longer the person she thought she knew. No longer the same person who had been friends with her when no one else was, who had saved her from the troll, who had been with her in the woods.

"I mean, Hermione, what I'm trying to say is that Ron has a fair point-"

"A fair point dictating how I live my life?" Hermione countered with enough anger that she was almost holding a sword at Harry's neck, not believing the words coming out of Harry's mouth."

"No, but it's not like he can have the children! Hermione, you have to understand where Ron is coming from. He wants a solid mother figure in his children's lives, what is so wrong with that." Hermione eyed Harry as he paused, his green eyes staring into hers. "Look, when me and Ginny talked about having kids together, whenever that maybe, we realized that it would make more sense for her to stay at home and quit her quidditch career."

"By that do you mean we or you?" Hermione's arms were crossed, wondering if Ginny would have given up her own space as her own person to stay at home. Was that really the fierce Ginny she knew? Maybe it was, considering what a fearsome person Molly had been even though she herself had stayed at home.

"Both of us, but she wanted it after having her mother in her life."

Hermione understood that. It made sense. Ginny had grown up with a role model like that, a mother like that, and that was something she had dreamed of becoming.

"But that was Ginny's choice, was it not?" Harry nodded in response. "Ginny got to choose, Harry, which is different than no choice. Ron was giving me no choice at all, no room to make my own decision, his and only his decision on the table. You have to understand that is no different than being treated like less-"

"There is a difference! Ron is a person you love, helping you make a decision because he cares about you. He wants his children to grow up with parents close and ready, not working long hours and up at the top, he doesn't care or want that stuff. You remember Molly of course?"

Hermione did remember. She also remembered when Molly screamed her head off at Hermione when she saw her in the Ministry, how Molly shouted and cursed her out for supposedly 'breaking Ron's heart and shattering it into a million pieces'. Much good that did, as he and Lavender got into a relationship not very far after.

"Molly was not exactly the most forgiving person," was all Hermione dared to let out. "Especially because she believes her Ron is a precious angel. Don't you remember when she thought I broke your heart?"

Harry shook his head. "Look, Hermione, forget about that. Remember the good mother she was. That it what Ron wants, and I would agree with that's how I think a family really, fundamentally, is. You forget, I didn't even grow up with parents, and with that, I think it would be so crucial to have a generation without any orphans, you-"

"Understand? No. My child would not be parentless, or without one of us. I would just work for the day, tell me, what is wrong with that? What is so wrong with me having my own living, that both you and Ron destroy our friendship for? Is it really worth it?"

Hermione watched Harry shake his head, and groan verbally in frustration. Hermione was fuming with anger, watching him get heated from her saying the truth, or at least the truth she had been raised on.

"I can't deal with this right now," Hermione said resignedly as she apparated out of the room, somewhere between tired and sickened from the debate, and into a muggle alley in London.

It was in a neighborhood she knew well from growing up — just a small one she had walked by when she was in the city. But recently, Hermione had begun going to a pub there to escape the qualms of going to one full of people who would actually recognize her.

The pub was loud and brimming with the sounds of heightened laughter, of people who hadn't had such a miserable night like her. Hermione wasn't even much of a drinker, but she just sat at a table in the corner, alone, drinking in the bright around her. Hermione didn't want to have to go back to her apartment and stew in the anger of her argument, that was too much for her to handle.

Hermione sat with a beer in hand for a long, droning amount of time, hardly taking a sip. Just sitting; watching as people hung in groups of friends or in pairs of two. The people at the party came to mind, or most of them at least, but Hermione tried to push them out of her mind. She hated thinking of how humiliating it was going to be, somehow the front page of the Daily Prophet.

The pub was beginning to empty as Hermione noticed a familiar face walking in. With those silvery, almost always dreaming eyes, it could be none other than Luna Lovegood.

"What are you doing here?" It was back to a simple question as she watched Luna sit down across from her.

"I just came to tell you I'm sorry of the way Ron and Harry treated you, there not always the best if you hadn't noticed? If Rolf had told me whatever Ron probably told you, I would have set an army of his nifflers on him."

Rolf...? Rolf Scamander was her boyfriend?

"Yeah, well," Hermione awkwardly scratcher her head. She and Luna really never were that close, but with the girl now, Hermione felt at ease. "Believe me, if I could, I would definitely have set an army of nifflers on him."

"If you don't mind the asking of a curious soul, why exactly did you and Ron break up?"

"The long or abridged version?" Hermione watched Luna's small shrug in response, causing Hermione to launch into a short yet adequate version of events.

"Wow," Luna said as Hermione finished. "That's a lot more truthful than the pile of trash Ron was trying to weave into gold. They all had thought that at the first sign of confrontation, you'd fled from the scenes. I have to admit, it's relieving to know that my instincts aren't entirely wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Ron painted you as too desperate, too needy. That you faded, left, very unlike you actually. Not a very good lie, if you've seen a person enough. Your not some bossy Ministry worker, your a compassionate person. Besides, nargles can't exactly steal a person's personality, can they?"

Hermione gave a small smile as she stared at this person she had never talked to, burt seemed to know her so much better than some of her actual friends. "Yeah, but I don't want to talk about my troubles all night with Ron. So how are you and Rolf doing?"

"Really well, and thanks for letting me talk. Ginny doesn't really like Rolf, I really think she wanted me to marry within yours or our Hogwarts year. But he's a naturalist, one who I met traipsing around looking for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Bought me these earrings, unbelievable, that I finally know what it's like to have a boyfriend, my more me Harry Potter."

Hermione and Luna fell into any easy rhythm chatting and laughing, even though Hermione could never quite figure out that woman. It seemed so hard to fathom having a true friend again, and Hermione didn't even want to jinx the idea of having one.

When Luna got up to use the bathroom, Hermione noticed a surprising figure at a table nearby.

**A/N: Ooh! A mysterious figure to get into some more tricky ****business****! Additionally, Sorry if my Luna was a little OOC, I'm still working on challenging my inner Lovegood. Anyways, thank you to anyone and everyone who followed/faved my story! I really hope you keep reading and enjoy! I of course plan for some more bashing later on, but I want to add some more characters obvi. Please R&R, and stay tuned for Chapter 4!**


End file.
